New Haven Independent

All three answers could be found Saturday night at the Whitney Arts Center, where one of the city’s leading Latino not-for-profit agency, Junta for Progressive Action, held its 37th anniversary gala. What a bash! The ballroom was mobbed, requiring a steady influx of extra chairs. One highlight, as usual, were the mojitos, served up by hard-working Junta staffers-by-day Shalini Uppu and, once again, Javier Benitez.

Rafael Ramos, who spends his days inspecting buildings in New Haven, inspected the mojitos instead Saturday night. The drinks passed easily. That was high praise coming from Ramos: He originally brought back to the Junta crowd a recipe for the sweetened rum drink from a trip to Cuba. In his spare time, Ramos, a former Junta board chairman, also takes Junta kids on camping trips and runs the Bergamos community theater.

The theme of the evening was “community,” something Junta builds every day in New Haven, both by advocating for the rights of immigrants and by serving more than 4,400 people with English as a Second Language classes, youth programs, and legal help. At Saturday night’s party, Junta put the focus not on itself, but on community heroes such as New Haven Police Sgt. Luis A. Casanova (at right in photo), who’s keeping community policing strong from his post running the Fair Haven substation.

Casanova was one of two community leaders who received awards at the gala. The other was Maritza Rosa (at right in photo), a beloved community volunteer who currently serves as assistant principal of Fair Haven Middle School.

Waiting in the wings during the awards presentation were members of the group Agua Pa Chocolate. Click here to watch and listen to how hot they sounded once they took the stage.

On and off the dance floor, the joint was bursting with people who build community in New Haven everyday, such as Ed Cleary and Merecdees Soto, LEAP’s board chair and new executive director…

… and Angel Fernandez-Chavero of the Community Foundation for Greater New Haven. His question Saturday night: “Where’s Gone Dishin’?”